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The sun is shining, the air is filled with cheerful laughter, and Hotch is out of his usual suit in exchange for jeans and a t-shirt.
Translation: Reid is having a great day.
He walks across the side-lines of the pitch, watching the kids run around and screaming nonsense as Rossi shouts out what Reid can only assume are rules for whatever mid-practice game they’re playing, and goes to join the rest of the parents lounging around on the grass and catching up with one another. On days like today, when there isn’t a cloud in the sky but the heat isn’t stifling, a lot of the parents like to enjoy the time out as much as the kids do. Reid smiles at the few faces that he recognises, most of them knowing him well enough by now not to offer a hand his way, as he continues on towards the other end of the field where Hotch is standing.
Actually, correction: where Hotch is crouching. There’s a young girl standing in front of him, holding her elbow and looking downright miserable.
Reid slows his steps, watching as Hotch presses two fingers to his lips before moving them to her elbow, grinning softly down at her and saying something before floating his fingers away as if he’s just performed a magic trick. A little trick he learnt from Reid, he notes, smiling to himself.
It works, of course, and the girl’s face brightens considerably as she looks down at her grazed and grass-stained elbow. Hotch places a hand on her shoulder, face serious (but still void of any tension, unlike at work) as he undoubtedly reassures her of her skills and importance to the team. She nods at him, looking equally as serious, and straightens herself back up before she turns to re-join her team and Hotch rises back to his feet.
Almost instantly, there’s an unfamiliar woman at Hotch’s side.
Reid doesn’t bristle, not even when she brushes a hand over Hotch’s bicep and leans in unnecessarily close to whisper something in his ear – as if it’s too loud to talk at a normal, acceptable distance – because that would mean he was jealous and that notion is just absolutely ridiculous.
Still.
There’s a bitter taste in the back of his throat.
“Uh oh.” Reid startles, looking down to find Lynda reclined in a chair near him, head tilted up to watch him with a knowing smirk.
He purses his lips. “Don’t you start.”
She laughs, bright and warm, and holds her hands up in mock surrender. “I didn’t even say anything!” She turns to Dan, sat next to her, and asks, “Did I say anything?”
Dan snorts. “No. You didn’t need to.” Dan follows Reid’s previous gaze, and then turns to give Reid the same knowing smirk that Lynda did. “She’s new here. Her son’s not even on our team, he’s with ‘the enemy’.” Dan says the latter part with exaggerated air quotes and Reid snickers, turning his gaze back to the woman standing beside Hotch.
She’s stepped even closer now, hand still resting on his arm, and he might be stood a good few feet away but Reid can tell from the way his shoulders are set and the pull of his brows that he’s uncomfortable but too polite to say so. Reid sighs.
“Don’t worry, she’s got nothing on you.” Lynda tells him, reaching out to pat him with her rolled up magazine.
Reid smirks dangerously, quirking a brow. “Oh, I’m not worried.” he says, already heading in their direction.
“See?” Lynda is saying, and there’s a thwack that implies she just hit Dan with her magazine. “See? This is why I said ‘uh oh’!”
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me!” Dan cries, “I agreed with you!”
Reid hides his laughter, shaking his head minutely at their bickering. He’s only slightly concerned about the fact that they can read him well enough to know what he’s thinking – even if he has known them for almost a year now.
As he approaches the duo, the woman has her back to Reid but Hotch catches his eye over her shoulder and the shift in his expression is instantaneous; the tight knit of his brows easing away, a smile playing at the edges of his lips. There’s a twinkle in his dark eyes, most likely from the sun but Reid likes to believe that it’s because of his presence, that makes him look young and carefree, a boyish charm to him that Reid loves dearly.
Walking around the woman, Reid puts himself on Hotch’s other side, bumping their shoulders together and getting a welcome flutter in his stomach when Hotch’s eyes follow him, his smile softening further.
“Hey you,” he says, his knuckles brushing over the back of Reid’s hand, and Reid is a weak man because he can’t help but smile stupidly back at him, hooking their pinkie fingers together.
“Hi,” Reid replies, “practice going okay?” Hotch nods and, from this close up, Reid can see the smudge of mud on the rise of his cheek. If anybody asks, he had completely forgotten about the woman standing with them when he licks the pad of his own thumb before leaning over to wipe the mud from Hotch’s face. (That, of course, would be a blatant lie). He grins, brows rising as he teases, “The kids are the ones that are supposed to go home caked in mud, Aaron.”
Hotch shrugs, and the smirk on his face tells Reid that he knows exactly what Reid’s game is. He seems unwilling to put a stop to it, though, so Reid counts that as a point to him. “What can I say? I like to get involved.”
“You fell down, didn’t you?”
“No.” Hotch looks away, biting the inside of his cheek, and Reid snorts. “Maybe. It was Dave’s fault.”
“Mhm,” Reid presses his lips together to keep from laughing and makes a mental note to ask Rossi if he was smart enough to record it. Knowing the older man, he almost definitely did.
“They’re doing really well,” the woman suddenly decides to make her continued presence known and Reid lets out a long exhale that goes unnoticed by her. Judging from the way Hotch squeezes his finger, Hotch notices. “I came over to tell Aaron how much of a good job I think he’s doing with the team. Last time our two teams competed together they were an unorganised mess. The last coach really didn’t know what he was doing but, if today’s practice is anything to go by, our team better shape up.” She’s got a sweet smile, and she seems nice, but Reid can’t see past the fact that she’s still standing far too close to his man.
“Well,” Reid pipes up before Hotch can open his mouth, moving his hand to rest of Hotch’s shoulder, “he’s great with kids. And at leading. It’s hardly a surprise that he makes for a great coach.” His fingers dance over the dip of Hotch’s throat, knowing full well that he’s going to get an ear-full once they’re home about being ‘possessive’ and ‘rude’ but also knowing that Hotch won’t really mean any of it since he’s currently inclining his head into the touch, his jaw nudging Reid’s fingers lightly. Hotch can act as righteous and well-mannered as he wants; Reid knows that the older man loves Reid staking his claim on him as much as Reid loves it the other way around.
Especially since, whilst they’re on cases, they can’t be as touchy-feely as they usually are at home and they’ve just come back from a tough week away. They both need this.
Maybe Reid a little bit more.
Hotch sends Reid a heated look, the tell-tale flush of pink on his cheeks telling Reid that he’s successfully gotten under his skin, but covers it with an innocent smile. “Stop trying to butter me up. I already agreed to pancakes after practice.” he says and Reid laughs. It had taken a lot of persuading to convince Hotch that they (Jack and Rossi included) deserved pancakes from the diner down the street before they head home earlier this morning but Reid certainly hadn’t been complaining considering neither of them had needed to leave the bed for said persuasion.
Reid pouts, poking at Hotch’s cheek playfully. “Why do you always assume I want something whenever I’m nice to you?”
“Because nine times out of ten you do,” Hotch deadpans.
Reid huffs, pulling away and crossing his arms over his chest. He redirects his attention to the woman, shaking his head as he tells her, “I don’t know why I put up with him.”
She looks mildly confused and Reid briefly considers the possibility that she still, somehow, hasn’t gotten the message that Hotch is very much spoken for.
He doesn’t have to worry for long, though, because Hotch leans in and presses a lingering kiss to Reid’s cheek, the slight stubble he’s still sporting from their week away rubbing over Reid’s jaw in the most delicious way, and Reid doesn’t think anyone can blame him for forgetting how to breathe for a moment.
“Because you love me?” Hotch speaks lowly into Reid’s ear as he pulls away but Reid catches the way the woman’s eyebrows shoot up into her hairline so he knows that she heard him too. He grins smugly, that bitter taste from earlier settling into something more akin to satisfaction, and sways into Hotch’s body.
“That might play a small part into it, yeah.” he admits breathily, fisting a hand into Hotch’s t-shirt (and, seriously, a man should not look so damn fine in a simple t-shirt) and dragging him down into a proper kiss. They keep it short, of course, because there are children around. But when Reid pulls away he grazes his teeth along Hotch’s lower lip and sends him a look that promises that they’ll continue this later. Hotch’s answering grin is gorgeous.
The sound of someone clearing their throat finally has them peeling away from each other. “Right,” the woman glances between them both, gesturing vaguely behind her, “I best be off. Good luck with your team, Aaron.” Her eyes linger a little too long on Hotch and Reid lifts a disbelieving brow her way, grabbing Hotch’s hand and twining their fingers together. Beside him, Hotch lets slip a laugh that he tries desperately to cover with a fake as hell cough.
She doesn’t bother saying anything else and she finally leaves, much to Reid’s pleasure.
“You’re the absolute worst.” Hotch says the moment she’s out of earshot. Reid keeps his face straight, turning on his heel to watch over the team – who are now currently running literal circles around Rossi, for some reason.
He carefully avoids Hotch’s gaze as he says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He’s saved by any further teasing when a small boy, absolutely covered in mud splatters, comes barrelling into his legs and almost sends him toppling over. Luckily, Hotch has a hand on his shoulder before that can happen.
“Spence!” Jack squeals in his ear and Reid winces but covers it up with a wide smile. Gripping the boy’s shoulders, he crouches down to his eye level and takes him in, his heart swelling at the pure joy plastered over his face. “Did you see me score earlier?”
Reid pouts, shaking his head. “I didn’t! I only just got here, Aunt JJ needed me to watch Henry for a little longer than I thought.” Jack looks disheartened for only a moment before Reid adds, “I guess that means you’ll just have to get back out there and score another goal for me to see!”
That has the smile returning to the boy’s face and he nods eagerly. “They’re playing stuck-in-the-mud now but I will!”
Behind him, Hotch chuckles. “Looks more like stick-Dave-in-the-mud to me.”
Jack turns to look and bursts out laughing, nodding in agreement with his dad. Reid smiles too, honestly feeling like his chest might explode with the amount of warmth and happiness surrounding him.
“Hey,” he grabs Jack’s attention again, gently turning the boy his way. “Have you had some water?” Jack shakes his head and Reid tuts. “Well that’s just not good enough. Let me go grab you a bottle.” As he stands up again, he notices the dried mud in the boy’s hair and snorts, reaching out to run his fingers through the blonde-turned-brown locks. “What happened to your hair?! You do know you’re not supposed to wear the mud, right? You’re as bad as your dad!”
Jack laughs loudly, taking Reid’s hand when he offers it to him. “Did you hear? Daddy fell down in the mud! You missed it. It was so funny!” Jack rambles excitedly, falling into step beside Reid as he leads him towards the refreshment station set up by the edge of the pitch.
“He’s silly, isn’t he?” Reid says and Jack eagerly agrees with him, causing Reid to laugh. He glances over his shoulder, catching sight of Hotch watching them, and his heart stutters a little at the unbearably fond expression etched onto Hotch’s face.
Yeah, Reid thinks as he twists the cap off of a bottle of water before passing it down to Jack, today is a really great day.